The boring gray box in the electronics aisle might be the best flip in the store. That is the pitch from the reseller behind the ThriftSchool YouTube channel, who says Wii Fit balance boards turn up at thrift stores for under $10 and sell used online for around $95. The catch, he warns, is what it costs to get them to the buyer.
He walked viewers through a full day of hunting that started at a Goodwill where he found nothing but one DVD, moved to a pawn shop and a Savers, and ended at another Goodwill. Along the way he showed how he decides what is worth buying and what to put back on the shelf.
It is a useful look at how a working reseller thinks, especially for anyone who has wondered whether the stuff on thrift store shelves can be turned into real money.
The Balance Board Math
At Savers, he found a Wii Fit balance board in the electronics section and told the camera that a board for $5 or $6 is a great deal. He says he sells the board together with the Wii Fit Plus game on Amazon, and he pulled up his listing to prove it. Used boards sell all the time for $95, and he says he had already sold around 10 of them.
Then came the reality check. At a $100 sale, the net profit shown on screen was only $64. Shipping a board into Amazon’s warehouse costs between $10 and $15, and that comes out of what you keep. Still, he points out that a board bought for $5 with a game for a dollar or two, plus about $10 to ship, puts you in for under $20 and leaves $40 to $50 each time.
He was candid that he passed on the plain one, because he did not have time to ship another. But on the same shelf, a boxed board with all its little feet and a clean surface was priced at $10. He decided to take it, because the original box saves him a solid 15 minutes of finding a big cardboard box, cutting it to size and taping it up. In his words, the extra couple of bucks actually saves time. He also had around 15 spare Wii Fit Plus games at home, so the board only needed a disc to be complete.
Pawn Shop Warm Up
The pawn shop stop took about 10 minutes. He grabbed a Rory McIlroy PGA Tour game on PS4 for $5 and an Alpha Protocol game for $2, noting that he loves when stores use blanket prices on video games. He also found a brand new sealed Lego Ninjago set for $15 that he figures is a fast seller that nets $10 to $15 and is easy to ship into Amazon.
He left other Lego sets and Star Wars toys behind because they are not worth as much online. Two Blu-rays, The Dark Crystal and Death Wish 3, rounded out the haul. His total came to $29.99, he paid $30 in cash and saved two dollars off what he expected.
Savers Surprises
He says he generally hates Savers, because the prices run high and the shelves are thin. This time it surprised him. A Polaroid camera behind the counter was $100, an arcade game was $150 and blow molds were $70 to $100, so he moved on to the media section, where DVDs were $3 to $4 and VHS tapes were 99 cents.
Video games were a different story. A copy of Just Dance 4 for the Wii was $20, so it went back on the shelf. But he found a Night Rider box set for $3 a disc, about $12 in total. Scanning it showed one seller offering it new for $70, and he figured about $60 used, which would net close to $40.
He also grabbed the complete Deadwood series for $3.49, which he figures sells for around $25 to $30. Then came the best surprise of the Savers visit. A Just Dance Disney Party game for Wii was priced at $10 and looked like a normal copy, but it was brand new and sealed, probably a returned Amazon item. New copies go for about $40 to $50 while used ones sell for $10 or less, so he took it.
Back At Goodwill
At Goodwill he found another Wii Fit board, but this one was a plain Wii Fit version at $12 and the box had already been opened, so he did not pick it up. Instead he scored two movies. A Winnie the Pooh Halloween movie priced at $2 was going for about $30 with the holiday a week away, and he rushed to send it in. He also took an anime title for around $2 to $3.
He ended the day saying he was surprised Savers had treated him better than Goodwill. He also included older footage from a different trip, where a brand new sealed Goosebumps DVD for $1.99 would net around $5 in profit on Amazon, and a sealed copy of a game with a poor sales rank got left behind. His tip there is to check the sales rank color in the scanner app. If it is not bright green, he says, leave it.
Lessons For New Resellers
A few takeaways from his day are worth copying. Scan everything before you buy, because the barcode app tells you in seconds whether an item sells and for how much. Count the cost of shipping and fees, not just the sale price. And remember that sealed items, even common ones, can be worth several times more than used copies.
His other tip is to look for sets and complete boxes. A board with its original box, or a game with the right manual and case, saves time and sells faster. For anyone with extra closet clutter, it is a reminder that old game consoles and accessories can have real resale value, and a quick search of sold listings before you donate can pay for the effort.
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